Getting back on the broom (Josh)

After looking over the rules of Quidditch thoroughly and sending off for a key piece of equipment Louise felt as ready as ever to go back to her favourite game. She'd adjusted her quidditch robes so there was no left sleeve and made sure her harness was on properly before running down tot he pitch. It was pretty early so she didn't expect to see anyone else up, Professor was currently sitting on her shoulder and holding on tightly, mildly annoyed by all this movement.

A shiver ran up her spine but not the usual excited one. Without thinking she grinned and stepped onto the pitch, immediately clocking Josh a little further down pulling on his gear. "Morning Josh." The young Slytherin called, letting Professor hop down and sit on the grass to watch.

The weekend gave the freedom of practice. Josh had decided against bringing Louise in to the main team training at first, because it would possibly be too much for her. So instead the Head Boy had sent the prefect a note telling her to meet him on the pitch bright and early that morning. He'd received no reply, so he'd figured she would comply with his wishes, very much like the Grey he'd always known.

Josh had left his Common Room early, carrying his equipment in a small bag. The winter was starting to settle in, bringing quite a severe coldness to the grounds. It didn't bother Josh overly though, as he entered the Quidditch stadium, moving to the middle of the pitch and lying his broom down, sitting down beside it to pull on his safety pads. He doubted he would need them, but with Grey flying around he wasn't going to take any chances. Especially not now.

"Morning Josh."

"Grey." Josh replied, only half looking up to see the witch grinning. Somebody was in a good mood, it seemed. Though Josh couldn't think why. Doing up the final tie on his pads, Josh stood up, taking his broom in hand and using one of the footholds to gently kick off, hovering towards the witch with little and less effort. "Do we have a plan for keeping you on, or am I going to have to carry you to the Hospital Wing in the foreseeable future?" He asked the witch, a smirk playing on his lips.

After walking the short distance to meet up with Josh Louise just grinned wider at his comment and pointed tot he harness she was wearing, then mounted her own broom and clipped it into place onto a strap around the handle. "No need, I'll use this for practice, I've seen enough hospitals to last a lifetime." She hovered upwards, getting her sense of balance right before trying a small loop around the head boy. "Feels like I should be alright, though I'd like to try some manoeuvring before I try catching the snitch.." As she spoke it looked like she was getting an idea, if her grin was anything to go by.

Without much warning she shot forward giving herself enough room to tap Josh on the shoulder then soar upwards and around, shouting back. "Tag you're it!" She hoped her idea worked, what better way to practice than being chased around the pitch? She must be out of her mind, but it was too amusing to pass up, she needed some fun dammit, and bugger anything that thinks it could stop her. She giggled at that thought and checked over her shoulder briefly to see if he was following. "Catch me if you can!"

"No need, I'll use this for practice, I've seen enough hospitals to last a lifetime."

The Head Boy simply nodded, checking the piece of kit she had in her hand. It seemed like it would suffice, and Merlin knew he didn't have time to be taking the witch to the Hospital Wing, or explaining to the idiot that looked after it. As the witch looped him, Josh raised a questioning eyebrow at the girl, half in question to if she felt comfortable, and partly in question if she really thought that was necessary. When she stated she didn't want to start with the Snitch, Josh nodded. "Well, I figured we could-"

"Tag you're it!"

"I... What?" Josh asked, turning on his broom to see the witch streaking off across the pitch with that stupid grin on her face. Again.

"Catch me if you can!"

With a highly determined look on his face, Josh threw his other leg across his broom and hurtled towards the witch. If she wanted to be caught... well, so be it. "Easy!" Josh called after Louise, zigzagging in any direction the witch moved before taking an earlier turn at the end of the pitch and side-tackling the witch with probably a little more force than was necessary, though Josh had never had a good gage for that.

Unlike most situations, however, the older Slytherin held on, making sure Louise didn't fall from her broom, or come to any harm, only letting go when he was sure she could hold herself once more. "There. Caught you." Josh told her, not seeing the point in the game, if he was truly honest.

"Whoa!" She hadn't' expected him to pick it up that quick, she turned and weaved,t hough not managing very tight turns, looping around the posts at one end of the pitch only to get side swept. "EP!" She squeaked, almost losing balance but with being clipped on and held onto she wasn't going anywhere. She giggled again giddily and righted herself, treating Josh to another full blown grin. "Your turn to run then, and I'll catch you." She dipped down so he had room to go whichever way he chose, keeping her eyes on him constantly.

Josh was quite surprised at how quickly it had taken him to catch the witch. Pride filled him before he realised that he probably shouldn't have tried to out fly her so early on. It was hardly winning when you beat someone with only one arm, was it?

"EP!"

The unladylike noise that escaped the witch's lips made Josh frown as he let her go, shaking his head slightly and muttering something about lack of training. Whether she was still keeping it up, Josh didn't have the capacity to find out at the moment, but he gathered she likely wasn't. But the giggle, the giggle was not something he'd expected either. Turning to face her, Josh looked at her confused. "What's so funny?" He demanded.

"Your turn to run then, and I'll catch you."

Josh raised an eyebrow at that, before deciding to humour the witch and turning on his broom. He set off on a quick ascent, checking the witch was following him until he could feel moisture in his hair from the lessened pressure. Checking where Louise was, Josh set to a quick, downwards spiral that would be difficult for the younger witch to copy, but it would do her good to try, especially seeing as the wizard decided to change direction in the middle, hoping to throw her off a little.

Louise waited a few seconds then gave chase, flattening herself against her broom. She had to focus a little more now, and followed him, spiralling but taking wider turns, but they were getting tighter with every try. The sudden direction change did throw her a little but she recovered, but twisted herself around, rolling the broom too to catch up with the turn. It didn't look like she minded fast flying, she kept to a few feet away, till she grew confident with fancy flying again.

She'd been enjoying herself too much to catch up and call tag again, smiling brightly for a good few minutes. She got gutsy though and pushed her firebolt as fast as it could handle, still laying flat on the handle she reached out to tap Josh's shoulder again, her legs doing most of the holding on now, the second she'd made contact she grabbed the handle again and dived, pulling up to loop around so she wouldn't hit the floor. Not even the freezing and moist air was dampening her spirits.

Josh flew off as fast as he could in the spiral, looking over his shoulder intermittently to check where the witch was. To begin with she didn't catch up very much, unsurprisingly given that Josh had picked something difficult from the beginning.

A few turns later, and Louise caught up with him, tapping his shoulder before diving downwards towards the ground. Though she saved herself before she could hit the floor, something that the Slytherin was glad about.

"Careful, Grey!" Josh called to the witch, his voice not hinting at caring. He wasn't much in the mood to play this game anymore, so he didn't chase after her, instead watching her fly for a moment. "Have you worked out how this is going to work with a Snitch? Fast flying, sharp turns, catching the Snitch and not hitting anything or anyone?" Josh asked, because from the looks of it, she hadn't, and that was more than worrying right now.

Seeing she wasn't going to be chased anymore Louise did a few loops and spirals of her own, then looked up when he asked her how she planned on catching the snitch.

"If I can't fly then there's no point worrying if I can catch the snitch or not. I can catch with one hand just fine, as for quick moves and dodging, that will need work. You can let me try and chase the snitch now if you want, but nothing more difficult than that just yet. Say after I catch it twice start adding stuff for me to avoid or try and beat me at catching it."

She answered back, planning her own strategy for practice in her head as she went, though maybe it was just being on a broom again that was making her feel unstoppable but she wasn't about to dwell on it too much and just enjoy the practice.

The plan the witch had formulated was, at least, a good one. Josh knew there were enough idiots in the school, but it seemed today that Grey was not being one of them. Nodding at her suggestion only once, Josh moved to the ground to the box that held the Quidditch equipment, opening the box and going straight in to the lid taking the Snitch and heading back up to Louise.

"I'll let you catch it twice, and then we'll see where to go next." Josh told the witch, letting go of the Snitch which zoomed off almost instantly. The Head Boy simply looked at her expectantly, almost but not quite saying 'fetch'. But he'd stopped himself, simply waiting for the witch to crack on with the idea.

Louise nodded and then gave the snitch a ten second head start, noticing but not commenting on Josh's look. She sped off upwards and around the pitch, following the tiny golden ball. The first catch took just a little over five minutes while Louise got used to flying one handed and hesitating to reach out to grab it. She'd snatched it out of the air and cursed under her breath when she rolled, and luckily managed to lock her legs around her broom, that and her harness was keeping her on. Once righted she let the snitch go again and waited to chase it again. The second run went a lot better, after Lou worked out to tighten her hold with her legs before reaching forward to make the catch. Quite pleased with herself she looped twice before coming back to Josh's level and presenting the snitch to him, a wide grin plastered on her face. "Time to up the ante."

Josh sat on his broom watching as Louise hurried off, watching her carefully. The first time was rusty, not as smooth as the witch had once been, but passable. The first catch had made Josh ready himself to move as he saw the witch struggling, but he'd sat back the moment the harness had worked and kept her on the broom. Sitting back comfortably, Josh waited as the witch let go of the Snitch again.

The second attempt was better than the first, with more control in the witch's movements. It seemed that the catching of the Snitch was not going to be the hard bit in that moment. Turning to watch the witch as she moved behind him, snatching the winged ball from the air, a small smirk touched Josh's lips as he saw her manage.

"Time to up the ante."

"Indeed. I'll get the Bludgers." Josh replied, lowering himself back to the ground so the witch had time to process what he'd said. After flicking the latches off both the enchanted balls, Josh picked up his Beaters bat and took to the skies in pursuit of the balls. "Let the Snitch go, we'll see how you do!" Josh called, swinging his bat at an oncoming Bludger and aiming straight at the witch to get her moving.

That was all the warning Louise needed as she let go of the snitch and tempted fate by staying put for as long as possible and then darting to the side at the last second. This was going to get real interesting real fast. Her smile was still in place but set to a determination to prove she could still fly with the best of them, given the circumstances. The bludgers were forcing her to think on her feet, attempting harder and harder turns, all the while keeping one eye on the snitch. Of course it took a bit longer to actually catch it while avoiding the bludgers but it was all part of the fun. In a daring move she spiralled down after the snitch and barely grazed along the grass of the pitch while upside down, holding the snitch out in her hand and using every last ounce of strength into keeping herself parallel to her broom, then righting herself by twisting her hips around. "Got it!" She called up to Josh, looking for him around the pitch.

The moment the Bludgers were in the air, Josh was in his element. There was nothing better, well, maybe there was, but in this moment, there was nothing better than flinging Bludgers around the Quidditch Pitch. Louise, to her credit, was coping well enough, taking longer to collect the Snitch, but in the end completing that task quite well.

Trying not to be too disgruntled that he hadn't caught her, Josh readied himself for the first Bludger coming his way, taking out his wand and smashing it before it got too close, before repeating the process on the second.

"Got it!"

Josh simply nodded, signalling for the witch to land. She'd shown her competence on the pitch, that was all he needed. "Feel free to stay, Grey, but I've seen enough." Josh told the witch as she came closer. Josh was quite evidently not in the mood to play anymore, so it was best he left. He'd taken a step away before he turned back to the witch.

"Come to the Head's Common Room some time." Josh told the witch. It was never a question for Josh, because he didn't allow choice. And with that, the boy was turning on his heel and leaving, broom over his shoulder.